title: Comparison between 1-needle technique versus 2-needle technique for bone marrow aspiration and biopsy procedures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bone marrow examination is essential for diagnosis and staging of hematologic disorders. Traditionally, the bone marrow biopsy and aspirate are obtained with 2 needles at 2 separate sites. This approach is associated with significant discomfort, procedural time, and occasionally, morbidity. Although previous observations had suggested that a single-needle technique at one site is a simpler and less-painful procedure, there had been concern that the 1-needle technique may yield a suboptimal biopsy for diagnosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a systematic comparison of multiple parameters of bone marrow biopsy specimens obtained by the traditional 2-needle technique versus the 1-needle technique for bone marrow collection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated 20 biopsy specimens obtained by each of the 2 mentioned techniques by comparing the morphologic quality of the biopsy, biopsy length, and biopsy cellularity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the 1-needle technique yielded an adequate biopsy for diagnosis. The measured parameters of the samples obtained by the 1-needle versus 2-needle techniques were similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that the 1-needle technique may be preferred for bone marrow aspirate and biopsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Alyaa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Ibraheemi
authors.forename: Tiffany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Syklawer
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quesada
authors.forename: Amer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wahed
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nedelcu
authors.forename: Andy N D
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Nguyen
mesh_terms: D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D001855:Bone Marrow Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*